Behind the Scenes at Pamplin: April Fool’s!

By Carley Elder, Pamplin Historical Park

Monday

Apr 1, 2019 at 2:01 AMApr 3, 2019 at 6:23 PM

The American Civil War is remembered as one of our nation’s greatest tragedies, and to this day we treat it somberly and with great reverence. Yet, though it may be difficult for us to imagine, humor continued to flourish amid the war torn landscape. For it seems that whenever large groups of young men and boys are gathered together, pranks and mischief will follow.

Pvt. Sidney M. Davis of the 6th US Cav. wrote about one of the hijinks soldiers got up to in camp:"During these days of wild soldiering the men were addicted to playing practical jokes upon each other. Sometimes when a party would be lying asleep around the campfire, with their boots out and their bare feet stretched out towards the welcome coals, a comrade would move a blazing branch closer to the glistening soles. Presently the sleeper would move uneasily and draw up his pedal extremities. Then the branch would be moved closer, followed by a similar movement, and this programme would be followed up until the sleeper had gradually travelled over considerable ground. When at last the sleeper awakened, he would look about him with a bewildered stare, until the laughs of his comrades brought him to a realization of the pranks that had been played upon him."

Occasionally the officers and generals got in on the action as well. According to Lt. Charles Wilkins of the 1st US Inf., one day his captain reminded all the officers in the regiment to be ready for the examination to be held in one week’s time. Failure to pass the exam would result in dismissal. The poor officers went into a frenzy trying to figure out how to prepare for the non-existent exam. When word of the hoax reached Gen. Rosencranz, he good-naturedly offered to come and inspect the officers himself since they’d put in so much effort.

Humor even found its way onto the battlefield. Elisha Hunt Rhodes of the 2nd RI Inf., recounted a moment of spontaneous comedy during the Battle of Opequan Creek. A shot struck the horse of the nearby captain of the 5th WI Volunteers, causing the horse to take off running. The captain leapt to his feet after it and shouted, "There goes my…horse, my…haversack, my…blankets, my…canteen!" The captain continued to list of every bit of gear he’d lost until, "Notwithstanding the fact that shot and shell were plunging into our Brigade, the group of officers including myself who witnessed this scene rolled in the sand convulsed with laughter."

At least once the war itself was the inspiration for an April Fool’s prank of questionable taste. In her diary Eliza Frances Andrews of Georgia recorded an attempted prank by two young men on April 1, 1865. The boys sent a note stating a dispatch had arrived with news that Yankees were marching through the nearby countryside, wreaking destruction. "They must have thought us fools indeed, to believe that the enemy could come all the way from Tallahassee or Savannah to Thomasville without our hearing word of it til they got there, but we pretended to swallow it all," she wrote. The quick thinking ladies of the house wrote back that they were distraught with fear and thus had decided to evacuate.

Overcome by guilt for taking the joke too far, the boys rode over in a hurry to confess their trickery and stop the evacuation only to find the home "abandoned," except for Eliza’s sister who mournfully told them that everyone else had left. One of the boys, noticing the carriage was still in the carriage house, was unconvinced by the tale and an epic game of hide-and-seek ensued until, "At last, after dark, we thought they were off for good, and went in to supper, taking the precaution, however, to bar the front door and draw the dining-room curtains. But we had had hardly begun to eat when Jimmy burst into the room, exclaiming: 'Howdy do, Miss Fanny; you made a short trip to Albany.' We all jumped up from the table and began to bombard him with hot biscuits and muffins."

Carley Elder is the collections manager at Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier.

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